Many companies and other organizations operate computer networks that interconnect numerous computing systems to support their operations and the services they provide to their end customers distributed worldwide. For example, data centers housing significant numbers of interconnected computing systems have become commonplace, such as private data centers that are operated by and on behalf of a single organization, and public data centers that are operated by entities as businesses to provide computing resources to customers.
In data centers, a significant number of network connections may be required in each server rack. Each rack in a data center may, for example, include a switch that has a receptacle panel for plugging in numerous network connector plugs. Also, some racks may include additional networking equipment mounted in the rack, such as additional switches, routers, etc. In some data centers, cabling may be routed from cable trays, conduits, etc. in the data center to switches or other networking equipment in a rack. In order to route the cabling to the switches and other networking equipment, cables may be routed from the cable trays or conduits to connection points on switches and other network equipment mounted within the rack after the rack is installed. Such routing of cables within a rack after installation of a rack may be labor intensive and susceptible to errors in installation. Alternatively cables may be routed to connection points on switches and other network equipment mounted in a rack by routing cables external to the rack to the connection points on the switches and other pieces of network equipment. However, cables routed external to the rack may interfere with access to components mounted in the rack and may be difficult to manage. As another alternative, some data centers may use patch panels that are mounted in a slot of a rack, wherein cables from cables trays or conduits connect to the patch panel and patch cables are routed within the rack from the patch panel to connection points on switches and other networking equipment mounted within the rack. However, patch panels mounted in slots of a rack may occupy space in a rack that could be used to mount additional computing devices, switches, or other pieces of network equipment in the rack.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.